Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Obama's Budget Hurts All of Us

Originally Published 24 March 2009

After Obama repeatedly bashed George Bush about the deficit Bush ran up, the Congressional Budget Office now says Obama’s budget will launch our deficit to 9.3 trillion dollars over the next ten years.

More disturbing than Obama’s hypocrisy on the subject are all of the negative consequences of his budget to our country. Those consequences often seem “far from home” for most people. Talking in trillions of dollars and getting our heads around the long-term implications of record deficits is hard to fathom.

But when the impact can be directly related to our lives, it puts a sense of perspective to the detrimental path Obama is pursuing.

Senator Johanns and his staff have been putting the direct affect of Obama’s budget in perspective. The Congressional Budget Office, much to the Administration’s chagrin, has been doing the same. Recent press releases and floor speeches have highlighted the very specific facts and figures about how the budget will affect each of us.

Although Obama promised to only raise taxes on those who make over $250,000 (or wherever that number ended up), it turns out his budget will impact everyone, including those of us who don’t make near that much.

Obama, like others who put the emotion of global warming ahead of common sense, wants to create a series of taxes for current energy sources that will cost everyone who use energy; pretty much all of us.

That alone will increase the tax burden on every family by about $2,300. So much for only raising taxes on those making over $250,000.

On top of that, it appears Obama’s plan will impose approximately 13% more in taxes on small and medium sized businesses. Because those businesses employ 74% of Nebraskans, it would be a far stretch to believe that his plan will not cost those of us who do business with them, or affect how many people they’re able to employ, or both.

I visited with two small business owners in central Nebraska before the budget plan was announced concerning their feelings about Obama’s fiscal philosophy and how it might affect them.

Both, one in the service sector and one in the retail sector, had seen this coming and were concerned. Rightfully so it turns out.

The retail business owner had actually started cutting back on expenses after the election, saving money, figuring that any Obama plan would cost him more in taxes. He cut back on his advertising budget, inventory on hand, and several other areas. The current economic times had not affected his business, but all pre-election indications were that Obama’s likely plans would be harmful. It now appears that the pre-election analysis was correct, and that he made a smart business decision.

Yes, we will all pay more taxes under the Obama plan. We will directly pay more for our own energy use. We will pay for the increased cost of everything we buy; all goods and services will be affected by the tax increases. It may cost more Nebraskans their jobs as small and medium size businesses cut back to cover the 13% greater tax burden.

Obama’s budget is estimated to increase taxes by $1.9 trillion. Every single one of us will get caught in that dragnet, not just the “rich.”

About Me

I was a Major in the Marines (once a Marine, always a Marine) serving most of my active duty time in support of operations in Somalia, Bosnia, as well as a tour with an infantry battalion in Iraq. But now I'm living a busy, but comparatively quiet life in the middle of Nebraska. Because the center of gravity for the war on terror is in the U.S., not abroad, I feel it necessary to keep informing and motivating Americans to stay in the fight and not surrender. Through weekly columns in Nebraska newspapers, posting on other blogs, and now through my own blog I hope to encourage as many as possible to keep supporting our troops and persevere in this war on terror.